


Unboxing

by ElegantPi



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-20
Updated: 2011-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-27 15:23:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/297289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElegantPi/pseuds/ElegantPi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry's all set for a night of gaming, but Tesla has other plans for the evening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unboxing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [somehowunbroken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/somehowunbroken/gifts).



> Merry Sanctuary Christmas, somehowunbroken! I hope you like it! I had a lot of fun writing it. :)

Visions massed in Henry's mind as he turned the last corner to his lab, of ships darting through space, alien encounters on distant worlds, the flash of a lightsaber, the pew-pew-pew of a blaster... His early invitation to SWTOR (initialism for Star Wars: The Old Republic, pronounced "switter", as he'd explained to Will a few moments ago) had popped into his email box just a few hours ago. After a long day of setting up a new habitat to receive a family of Chaneque from central Mexico, Henry was definitely looking forward to some serious immersion game play.

At first, when he pushed open the door to the lab, he thought he'd left the television on by accident. Then, his brain registered what was playing on the screen – NOT something he would have left running for anyone to see if they happened to walk in. A flash of dark hair and rippling abs exploded out of denim pants into fur and romped into a fight scene across the screen. In front of this monstrosity of a movie, Tesla lounged on Henry's sofa, glass of blood red wine in hand.

"What the hell," Henry said, walking around to stand between Tesla and the tv. Tesla merely leaned to one side, and Henry reached back with one hand to turn the tv off.

Tesla rolled his eyes. "Can't a vampire enjoy a good vampire flick without being so rudely interrupted?" He took an insolent sip of wine.

"There are a million rooms in this house," Henry replied. "Lots of them have tvs – with bigger screens! - so why do you need to invade my lab? Also, Twilight? Really?"

"Oh, yes, Twilight," Tesla replied. "Really. It was sitting right there on the shelf." Elegant finger pointed to an empty space in the dvd rack.

Henry flushed. "I just bought it to see if it was any good."

"To see the werewolves, you mean."

"Hey, you were watching it for the vampires."

"This society's fascination with vampires intrigues me," Tesla said, swirling the wine in his glass.

Henry walked over to his desk and sat down, launching SWTOR so that it could update. If you ignored him long enough, sometimes Tesla would just go away.

"After all," Tesla went on, "I _was_ the original inspiration for Anne Rice's Lestat."

Henry scoffed. Then, "Wait... really?" Tesla's smile was smug, and he tilted his head a little as if receiving an accolade. Henry scoffed again and turned back to his screen.

That was when he saw it. A small cube, three, maybe four inches square. Silver filigree, intricate patterns layered over something else that might be brown or black wood, highly polished so that it gleamed darkly through the silver. It hadn't been on his desk this morning. Nor had Tesla been in the house this morning, and Magnus hadn't mentioned anything about a visit.

Tesla was reaching his long, elegant hand toward the tv remote. "Tesla," Henry almost-growled. 

The vampire paused and looked at him, eyes wide, innocent. "Can't I just finish the movie?"

"What is this?"

"What is what?"

Henry started to snatch up the cube and toss it toward Tesla, but as his fingers neared the box's surface, it snapped with some kind of energy. It felt like one of those nasty, thin little rubber bands had snapped against his finger tips. "Mmmph!" Henry bit back a yelp. "THAT. That right there, on my desk, the thing that just _bit_ me. What. Is. It? And don't tell me you don't know, because I know you're the one who brought it in here."

"It's a box of some sort," said Tesla, coming around to stand in front of the desk. 

"No kidding." Henry folded his arms. So much for a quiet night of lightsabers, blasters, and spaceships. "Does Magnus know you're here?"

"You don't think I could make it past this magnificent security system of yours without her knowing, do you?"

"That wasn't an answer to my question."

"Not as such, no."

"What do you want, Tesla? I have plans for tonight, and they involve this lab being empty of everything except me and my stuff."

"Oh, well, if you've tired of our little tête-à-tête ..."

"What's in the box?"

"Oh, now that _is_ the question, isn't it?" Tesla reached over, and the box floated into his hand, snapping energy and hovering just above the skin. "I recently visited the excavations of Çatal Höyük, and I... happened upon this little beauty while... exploring. Unfortunately, it seems to resist all my magnetic charms."

"So... what?" Henry crossed his arms, waiting for the other shoe to plant itself someplace where it wasn't wanted.

"So..." Tesla mocked, "I can't get it open."

"Ah," said Henry. "And you need my help to open it."

Tesla rolled his eyes again. "It occurred to me that you might have some useful input, yes."

"Dude, do you even know how to ask for help?"

"Do you want to know what's in the box, or not?"

Henry stared at the silver-wrapped object, snapping blue fire above Tesla's hand. Bending closer, he could see blue-white darts of energy pulsing along the silver, and he could hear the box hum, could even hear crooning whispers. He broke away to reach underneath the desk for a rubber mat and a magnifier, feeling Tesla's eyes following his every move. He slapped the rubber mat on the desk.

"OK," he said, "First thing... we need to turn off its electrical field so that I can scan it and maybe touch it, hook some stuff up to it without blowing any circuits."

"I think I can neutralize it long enough for a scan or two," Tesla said. 

It privately amused Henry how quickly Tesla could go from abrasive to cooperative once he was finally getting his way. Henry toyed with the idea of irritating Tesla further by refusing to help him a little longer, but the sooner they got the box open, the sooner Tesla would be gone and the sooner Henry could get to his game. That's what he told himself anyway. Curiosity about what the box contained, or the challenge of opening it in the first place, had nothing to do with it. Nothing to do with it at all.

"You want to do an unboxing video?" Henry asked Tesla. 

"A what?"

"You know, a video where you unpack the box for the first time."

"This is something that people do? Something from your "geek culture", perhaps? Just... there, try it now."

"Ow! Nope, and if it bites me again, I'm out of here."

"Sorry... Try now."

"OW. I think you're just fucking with me to see how many times I'll touch it when you say 'try now'."

"I think I've dissipated the electrical field this time. Really. Try it now."

"Not. A. Chance." 

~*~*~*~*~*~

Henry's feet skidded on the waxed floor, and Tesla bounded ahead of him, holding the box. "Aw, crap," Henry said, as the glowing... spirit... thing... whatever the hell it was... rounded the corner, heading straight for Magnus's office. He'd been hoping it would go the other way. But no. Straight for Magnus's office. "Tesla, we have to get that thing back in the box before it disables our security system, cuts power to the habitats, unlocks every door in fourth level containment..." 

"I'm _aware_ of that, Heinrich, _believe me_ ," Tesla panted.

"You don't care about any of that," Henry scoffed. "You just care about Magnus finding out you're responsible."

"There is that," Tesla admitted as they rounded the corner.

It had sprung from the box the moment Henry had managed to coax it open, glowing a sickly green, amorphous except for the occasional facial feature that emerged from the blob – a distended eye here, a withered hand there... He was pretty sure Tesla had been expecting something else entirely. The thing had burned Henry's hands, and Tesla was sporting a nice red welt on the side of his face. It had already drained all the power from the equipment in his lab, and the lights all over the sanctuary were flickering furiously. Magnus had to have noticed by now...

"Oh, no," Henry moaned. Magnus's door swung open, and she herself appeared, eyes flashing, just as the energy creature thing flung itself at her. Magnus ducked, and the glowing thing soared over her, into the office. Henry could smell singed hairs. Magnus spun around and slammed the door closed just as Henry and Tesla slid to a stop in front of her.

"What in the five hells," Magnus said, looking from Tesla to Henry and back to Tesla again. "What are you doing here, Nikola?"

"I _knew_ she didn't know you were here," Henry said. Magnus held up a hand, and Henry shushed.

"Oh, just a friendly visit," Tesla said airily. "I brought a small artifact that I thought Heinrich might find interesting."

From inside Magnus's office, they heard a crash that to Henry's ears might have been a Ming vase or Helen's favorite tea set... "That I might be able to open for you so that you could have what's inside, maybe," Henry corrected him. He turned to Magnus. "I'm sorry. I should have called you the minute I saw him on my couch. Whatever it is, it doesn't seem to be able to break the windows or go through the walls." Another crash. "I think it's trapped in there."

"It came from this box?" Magnus asked, taking it out of Tesla's hand. " _This box_?" She shook the offending object under Tesla's nose. "Nikola, I don't believe you."

"What?" Henry said, lost. "What _is_ that box?"

"It's sort of a... box that holds things in stasis," Helen explained. "For instance..." She turned accusingly to Tesla, "...a sample of vampire blood, preserved through the ages and hidden away among the catacombs of the lost cities."

Tesla gave her a sheepish grin.

"Well, that's... that's definitely _not_ what was in the box," Henry said. He wondered if Magnus could hear that crackling of flames that he was hearing from beyond the door. "And whatever it is, it's set something in your office on fire."

"That would be because these types of stasis boxes are also used to hold vicious spirits or elementals," Magnus said. "It is impossible to know just _what_ these boxes have in them until you open them. Which is something only done in containment, as _everyone knows_ who knows about the existence of these boxes." 

Henry and Magnus glared at Tesla.

"What?" he said, taking a step back.

Magnus reached into a nearby closet and hefted one of Henry's specially-designed weapons. "This is what we're going to do," she snapped. "You two are going to figure out how to get that thing back in its box. I am going to contain it and the fire that is right now ruining my drapes and threatening my papers. Now. GO!"

They went.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"So you didn't get to play "swatter" after all?" Will passed him a cold beer from the fridge, which Henry gratefully accepted. They carried their bottles to the kitchen table. 

"It's "switter", and no," Henry replied. "The elemental did unmentionable things to my poor computer system. It's going to take me days to fix. Plus, I have to go pick out new drapes for Magnus's office, and buy her a new tea set."

"So, let me get this straight," said Will, hiding a grin behind his beer bottle. Henry sensed that the razzing was about to begin. "You and Tesla built a couple of, for lack of a better term, I'll call them ray guns, pointed them at the elemental, and used them to draw it down and stuff it back in the box?"

Henry pressed the cold bottle to his forehead. "Simplistically, yes, that's basically what we did."

"So... What happens if you crossed the streams of the ray guns?"

"Will..."

"Hmm?"

"Shut up."

The clink of glass on glass made Henry look up. 

"Oh, no," Will said. "I'm outta here." He picked up his beer and fled through the nearest door. 

Tesla strode over to the table, bottle in one hand, glass in the other.

"What do you want?" Henry groaned.

"I just wanted to thank you for your help with the "unboxing", as you called it," Tesla said. "Far be it from me to withhold thanks where thanks is due."

Henry glared at him. "You're welcome," he said, rising, intending to leave Tesla alone with his bottle.

"I fixed your computers," Tesla said.

"Yeah, fine, ok... wait, what?" Henry sat back down.

"Just the ones in your lab," Tesla said. "It's the least I could do. Your silly game will work just fine now. I apologize for ruining your evening."

"Well..." Henry thought about it a moment. "It wasn't totally ruined. Building emergency contraptions on the fly always gets my adrenaline pumping."

"Indeed," Tesla said.

"And, of course, there's that cool box I get to play with, now," Henry added.

"What?"

"Yeah. Once I set up a containment field for the elemental and draw it out of the box, I can take the box apart, see what makes it tick, see if I can copy it or apply it to some of my other ideas for gadgets..."

"Now, wait a minute..."

Henry's face lit up. "I guess, actually, I should be thanking you, Tesla. Far be it from me to withhold thanks to a man who brings me cool toys. I think maybe instead of playing my game, I'll get to work on that containment field." Pushing his chair in, Henry strode to the door.

"But I never said..."

Henry stopped at the door and looked back over his shoulder at Tesla. "Want to come with?"

The vampire flashed him a toothy grin, and rose to follow him.


End file.
